Who was Paul Sykes?

BOXER Paul Sykes was once considered one of Britain's hardest prisoners.

Brits are still fascinated by his wild life despite his death in 2007. Here is what we know about Paul Sykes:

Who was Paul Sykes?

Paul Sykes was a professional heavyweight boxer, however he spent much of his life in prison.

One thing that he was particularly well-known for was his propensity for violence, both as a boxer and as a prisoner.

He once said: "I’m an expert in violence - I’ve been at it all my life."

It was this violence that caused him to spend so much time in prison.

Sykes was born on May, 23, 1946, in Wakefield, Yorkshire, where he grew up on a council estate as an only child.

He took up boxing at the age of seven and showed early signs of talent.

His dad, Walter, taught him how to box from a young age, however Sykes later implied that this had a negative affect on him.

He said: "I was getting bashed in the face at seven years of age.

"Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday morning, learning how to box. How can your dad love you if he lets this happen to you three or four times a week?"

Sykes' mum, Betty, also hinted that Walter was partly at fault for her son's aggression.

She said: "I’ve been used to brutality with my husband - perhaps that’s why Paul thinks he’s got to use force because his dad’s always used force."

How long did Paul Sykes spend in prison?

Sykes was known as one of the most difficult prisoners in the UK throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

He first went to prison when he was 17 and earned himself 22 more convictions in the following two years.

In total, Sykes spent jail-time in 18 different prisons due to numerous violent assaults.

Sykes spent 26 years in prison during his 60 year life.

However, Sykes described prison as "easier than being at home", saying he had "a lovely warm cell" and "all the books he could read".

Did Paul Sykes have any children?

Paul Sykes had two sons, Paul Leighton Sykes and Michael Sharp.

Both of Sykes' children are serving life sentences for murders.

His first son, Leighton Sykes, is serving a life sentence for stabbing a man named Michael Gallagher to death in a frenzied knife attack in Wakefield in 2004.

Four years later in 2008, his second son, Sharp, was also sentenced to life in prison for murder.

Sharp was given a minimum 27-year sentence at Leeds Crown Court for killing a former police officer, David Ward.

The murder came after a botched armed robbery at Ward's home in Wakefield.

In 2011 documentary Strangeways, Sharp told how he fought off 16 inmates in one attack. 

He said: "There’s no light at the end of the tunnel, so there’s a lot of stabbings, a lot of slashings, people boiling up tubs of butter, turning it into oil, throwing that over the faces, over the body, they don’t care what they do. 

“They don’t care if they stab someone up, don’t care if they slash people up.”

How did Paul Sykes die?

Sykes died in March 2007 at the age of 60, from pneumonia and liver cirrhosis.

Complications in the liver are often caused by alcohol abuse, which Sykes was known to suffer from.

He passed away in a hospital in his hometown of Wakefield.

What did Charlie Bronson say about Paul Sykes?

During his time in prison, Sykes met the notorious Charles Bronson.

Sykes clearly left a big impression on Bronson.

Bronson wrote about Sykes in his book, Legends: “A notorious hard man from Yorkshire, a fighting man in every sense.

“A lot of people never liked him, even feared him but I respected the man and what he stood for.”